How to Negotiate Effectively

I recently finished reading Bargaining for Advantage - Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People - by G. Richard Shell, and wanted to share with you the six foundations outlined within this work to improve your negotiation skills:

1) On Your Bargaining Style: - Understand your bargaining instincts, including how family, gender, and culture have shaped your preferred style. - Acquire a willingness to prepare. - Set high expectations. - Have patience to listen. - Make a commitment to personal integrity.

2) On Setting Effective Goals: - Think carefully about what you really want. - Set an optimistic - but justifiable target. - Be Specific. - Write down your goal and commit to it. - Carry your goal with you into the negotiation.

3) On Gaining Normative Leverage: - Survey the applicable standards and norms. Identify the ones the other party views as legitimate. - Prepare supporting data and arguments. - Anticipate the arguments the other side will make. - Prepare a positioning theme and anticipate the other side's. - If necessary, consider making your arguments before a sympathetic audience.

4) On The Relationship Factor: - Gain Access and credibility through relationship networks. - Building working relationships across the table with small steps such as gifts, favors, disclosures, or concessions. - Avoid reciprocity and relationship traps like trusting too quickly, letting others make you feel guilty, and mixing big business with personal friendships. - Always follow the "Rule of Reciprocity": Be reliable and trustworthy. Be fair to those who are fair to you. When other parties treat you unfairly,let them know about it.

5) On the Other Party's Interests: - Locate the decision maker. - How might it serve the other party's interests to help you achieve your goals? - Why might the other party say "no"? - What low-cost options might remove the other party's objections.

6) On Leverage: - Which side has the most to lose from no deal? - From whom is time a factor? - Can I improve my alternatives or make the other party's worse? - Can I gain control over something the other party needs? - Can I commit the other party to norms that favor my result? - Can I form a coalition to improve my position?

A highly recommended read on the subject of negotiation. Other recommendation within this subject area are: Getting to Yes and Negotiation Genius.